


Querida

by TheCarrot



Series: The Other Dameron [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, But Luke is kind of like the weird Uncle nobody talks about, Force Ghost(s), Found Family, Gen, Luke Skywalker Lives, M/M, Possible Underage Drinking, Rey is his student, Rey is not paid enough to put up with his shit though, Rey meets Kes Dameron, you can pry lesbian Rey out of my cold dead hands
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:49:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25602349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheCarrot/pseuds/TheCarrot
Summary: “This one isn’t a temple,” Luke says finally. “An old... friend of mine lives here.”Rey’s eyebrow only goes so high on her forehead which she thinks is a pity. Sometimes it’s not enough to convey her confusion at her Masters words. “You use the term friend very hesitantly.” She notes.“I was closer with his wife,” The Jedi admits. “She was a phenomenal pilot that I knew.”
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Finn, Rey & Luke Skywalker
Series: The Other Dameron [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1855621
Comments: 10
Kudos: 73





	Querida

**Author's Note:**

> This is a lot more Rey and Luke bonding than I meant it to be... but I kinda dig it. 
> 
> The Finnpoe in this is there if you squint...

Rey had told Han, “I didn’t know there was this much green in the whole galaxy.”

But it’s Luke who sees her eyes widen every time they land on a new planet. It’s Luke who watches Rey run her hands along bright blue tree trunks, large verdant green leaves, sees how she drapes a large red fern leaf around her shoulders like a cape and can only laugh to himself when she shucks off her boots to run through knee high crystal clear, sparkling waters. He also then promptly teaches her how to get rid of the corresponding leeches that attach themselves to her feet.

She takes it with great aplomb however, poking at the small black suckers and merely asks Luke if they’re edible. He kindly informs her that no, no they aren’t, but then pulls out a container and places the leeches inside with some water.

“For Maz,” Luke muses as Rey puts her boots back on. “They may not be edible, but they can be medicinal.” 

Luke hands her the container to carry in her bag but it’s only when he turns around quarter of an hour later that he sees her still carrying it in her hands, holding the open transparisteel container up to her face and poking at the leeches with her fingers. Luke’s has a sudden and terrible flashback of the first time Han took him to an ocean planet, his own unholy glee after so long in a desert, and the way he had almost let the jelly-stinger eat him because he was too distracted by playing with gooey part on the top.

He leaves her too it, and then, when they’ve finally made their way back to the Falcon, Luke can only bury his face in his hands when the look of childlike wonder on Rey’s face turns mischievous and she darts out of the co-pilots seat and moments later he can hear Chewies’ long suffering warble that clearly tells him she's just tried to attach a leech to the unsuspecting Wookie.

They’ve been flying for the better part of three weeks, just the four of them, Rey and himself, Chewbacca and R2-D2 and Lukes taken them back to Ahch-To and then to Tatooine. They hadn’t stayed long, both hesitant to step off the ramp and into the sand, doubly more so when the faint string of cursing is carried to them in the Force, but Luke tells her of Old Ben and the story of Anakin Skywalker. Tells her how important it is to know, that the darkest shadow is cast by the brightest Light. Takes her to a small grave no one knows exists and tells her how in a young mans attempt to gain enough power to prevent those he loved from dying, he ended up succumbing to it.

Rey cries sad tears and Luke is surprised to find his own eyes damp, is even more shocked when he sees her fall to her knees and start to draw in the sand beside the small tomb-marker. The tomb-marker of a slave that Rey makes in the sand; quick symbols that looks like a lightening bolt, and another just next to it that resembles two triangles with their points touching.

“Sowilo,” She points to the little bolt. “For the Women of the Suns, it guides them towards the light after a passing.” Rey motions to the other one, it almost looks like a sideways hourglass to Luke, even though it’s already starting to blow away in the Tatooine winds.

“Dagaz, for good luck, and Comfort for the living. We would use these back on Jakku, when we passed the dead,” Rey says it so calmly that Luke is a little aghast. “We would leave these next to them. Burying them was too much effort to waste on strangers when the sand and the wind would do it eventually. But these… these were enough for us to know that they were not completely abandoned.”

They leave Tatooine; and if the next two Ancient Force sites Luke picks are full of people, animals and lively greenery, that’s between him and the echoing laughter of Force ghosts in his ears that sounds suspiciously like Old Ben.

-

Rey’s eyes occasionally go distant, like she’s listening to something very far away and when Luke asks her about it, she just smiles and says ‘Finn is happy,’ or ‘Finn is pushing himself’ and on one rare occasion she just makes a face, cheeks sunburnt red and Luke absolutely doesn’t need to know what Finn is doing and who he’s doing it with.

The lesson on shielding they have after that is one Rey picks up rather quickly. 

“You’ll have to teach this technique to your young man when we get back to base.” Luke muses as they sit side by side on the floor leading into the cockpit and Luke does his best to think the most outrageous thoughts he can and throw them at Rey, testing her newly made shields and they both keel over laughing when she occasionally fails.

Days like that are often followed by ones where Luke doesn’t feel like training Rey at all. Too caught up in the memories of his lost students, too unwilling to watch if Rey will be seduced by the Dark Side; but Rey will just roll her eyes, march into his room and drag him into the galley to eat something at the very least.

“People always overestimate the power of a Jedi,” Luke sighs as he rubs where Rey’s quarterstaff connected with his shin to get him out of bed when he didn’t immediately follow her. Talk about kicking a man when he’s down; he wasn’t even hungry. “What they seem to fail to realize is that any being, no matter how big or how small has the power to overcome adversity and save the galaxy... even desert rats like us.” 

Rey scrunches her nose over the bowl holding her portion of seeds and protein mash she had made for them. She doesn’t reply to his words, asks instead, “If you’re going back to bed does that mean I get to fly today?”

Luke dearly wishes he could have seen her and Han together. The chaos they could have gotten into and out of together... wonders if Rey would have been the child Han and his sister deserved. Radiant and kind, shining so bright with the Force that one day she will become a true beacon of what the Jedi should have been.

Wether that is a beacon for Light or Dark, Luke doesn’t want to be around to find out. No matter how much he’s come to enjoy her company.

Around the month and a half mark Luke comes into the main hold to see Rey bent over with Artoo, smiling as wide as he’s ever seen her at a small blue hologram playing the face of a young man. 

“He has kind eyes.” Luke states when she’s finished, doesn’t mention the swirl of the Force around the boy even over a holo-video. 

“He has kind everything.” Rey muses, lips upturned with a smile still. “He was the one who came back for me on the Star Destroyer.” 

Luke is familiar with the tale by now, told to him by Leia and then more colourfully by Chewie, and again by Rey herself. Kind eyes and brave, he thinks to himself. “I’m surprised my sister allowed him to send a transmission this deep into unknown territory.”

Rey merely shrugs. “He was First Order, apparently he’s given the Resistance a list of all of the channels that he knows they use and because of that the General allows him to send encoded messages once a week.” She pulls a face. “Even though they’ve all been about Poe lately.”

“Poe?” The name sounds familiar to Luke although he can’t place why. 

“Dameron,” the younger woman nods with an accompanying eye roll, like even this far away the man still somehow aggravates her. “Apparently Poe was injured on his last mission and is very bad at being grounded while he recuperates.”

Luke blinks at her for a moment, startled. “I thought... Finn, isn’t he yours?”

“Yes.” She answers honestly. “He’s my best friend.”

Blue eyes narrow at her. “I meant... I thought, with the way you spoke of him...” Dear Force this is awkward. “I ah- I assumed he was your b-boyfriend.”

Rey’s staring at the older man across from her with a furrow to her brow and a look of distaste in her mouth. “Finn is the sole brother of my heart, I would sooner die than let something happen to him,” Of that she has no doubt, but she doesn’t need a lot of power for that. Between her and Finn they are well covered in the protecting each other department. However, “He is not my mate. He is of entirely the wrong constitution for my tastes.”

Oh. Luke blinks at her before her words truly sink in. “Oh, um, excellent. That’s wonderful.” He pauses, suddenly feeling much older than he is. “Do I... do we need.... to have a talk about anything? Any questions or…”

Rey’s gaze narrows dangerously and reaches out to put R2 between them. “Dear Force no.” Doctor Kalonia had given her pamphlets, that had been mortifying enough. 

Luke sighs so heavily in relief he actually feels his shoulder slump. “Thank the gods.” He straightens himself up and points towards the back of the ship. “Well, this was an entirely insightful evening. If you need me, please don’t, I'll be practically anywhere else.”

R2 thrills merrily as it follows him out and Rey’s bright laughter echoes around the warm bulkheads of the Falcon.

-

It takes a few days for the awkwardness to fade, because Luke had only added to it the night previous by making sure Rey knew of the Jedi rules of non-attachment and how he disagreed with it wholeheartedly, saying that he’d fully support her in any relationship with whomever she pleased. 

“Compassion is central to a Jedi’s life.” Luke quotes, red faced and hands waving. Is sure somewhere in the Force Han is laughing at him for this. “And one can define compassion as unconditional love... provided you don’t go overboard with it.. attachment... in any form is a good thing.”

“Please stop,” Rey begged, pinching the bridge of her nose because she is just done with this conversation. “Just teach me how to beat the shit out of Kylo Ren and I promise I will never bring a girl home to you.”

“Thank the stars.”

Artoo beeps between them and asks if it can marry BeeBeeAte, seeing as the wedding it was planning for Rey and Finn is moot now. 

All in all, Luke is the happiest he’s been in years. Flying with Rey is easy. Comfortable. Like a little piece of having a life back.  
-

“This will be our last stop before we head back to meet up with the others.” Luke states two days later. “The rest of your training can be done on the base while aiding your friends.”

Rey nods as they drop out of hyperspace, already excited to begin training with Finn, excited to see BB-8 again, but also curious as to what their final stop is going to be. She feels like she has ancient Jedi knowledge pouring like sand out of her ears, but for as strong as the voices in the Force have gotten for her, Rey is almost knocked out of her seat when a large blue and green planet fills the Falcons view screen. 

Luke soaks in the feeling for a moment, warm waves of energy casting so far out to space from what he knows lies growing in the soils of Yavin IV below. 

“It feels like Ahch-To...” Rey mutters quietly, voice almost reverent. “But... different.”

“Alive?” Luke muses, scratching at his beard as together they make their way into the lower atmosphere. Rey nods distractedly at him. “Because it is. What you sense is the daughter of the First Tree, the spine of the First Jedi temple that we saw withered there. And It is also a twin, of the tree I planted in mine... that was burned with my students.”

Stilted silence settles over the Falcon, only broken by Chewie in the back, barking out a complaint about Lukes flying as the older Jedi brings them to land in a large port on the edges of a small village. 

“Is there another temple here?” Rey finally asks as she gets comfortable in the back of a rented speeder next to R2-D2. Luke settles beside her as Chewie takes the controls after pointing a furry finger at the older man and warbling a reminder about ‘the last fucking time I drove in a speeder with you asshat’. She desperate wants to ask, but has learned its better to wait and ask when it’s just Chewie, least Luke start trying to defend himself and they end up in another hour long debate about canyon speed limits and what constitutes as cheating.

Luke sighs, eyes rolling dramatically and mutters something Rey can’t make out over the wind whipping by them. “This one isn’t a temple,” he says finally. “An old... friend of mine lives here.”

Rey’s eyebrow only goes so high on her forehead which she thinks is a pity. Sometimes it’s not enough to convey her confusion at her Masters words. “You use the term friend very hesitantly.” She notes.

“I was closer with his wife,” The Jedi admits. “She was a phenomenal pilot that I knew.”

She must have been beyond amazing for Luke to describe her as such. “That good?”

“Yes. We first met over the skies of Endor. She almost shot me down.” Luke laughs and Rey can’t help staring at him in confusion before she’s suddenly distracted by a large Koyo orchid growing in a well maintained grove that Chewie is driving them past.

She’s leaning over the side of the speeder in the next moment, eyes wide with excitement at the fruit bearing trees and Lukes heart almost stops in his chest, even his hand reflexively shoots out to grab hold of her belt before she has the chance to tip over the side.

“Where the Force is your seatbelt!” 

-

There’s an older man standing on the deck of the house that Chewie pulls them up next to and Rey takes in the mans bald head and grey goatee, tanned skin and rugged features along with a familiar looking nose. But it’s the sheer look of dismay on the man’s face, the way he sets down the plate laden with food and his mug that has Luke huffing in annoyance next to her that truly strikes home who this man is.

After all she’s heard the General give the same huff to Poe when she thinks he’s being particularly unreasonable. 

“Dias mío Skywalker...” The man groans. “Who have you pissed off this time and do I need to hide a body?”

Hazel eyes glance at her teacher as Rey climbs out of the speeder before Luke and adds it to the list of stories she’s going to want when they’re back on the Falcon. “Do you make a habit of hiding bodies?” She can’t help but ask, wry grin on her face as Luke climbs out, followed quickly by Chewbacca carrying R2-D2. The Wookie sets the droid down however and lumbers over to the man and envelopes him in a large hug that the man returns with glee.

“Nobody is hiding any bodies…” Luke straightens his robes and moves towards the steps. “…this time.” 

“Are you sure of that?” The man laughs as he hands his plate to Chewie with a wide grin and points to the door leading into the house. “There’s more on the stove big guy, help yourself.”

Chewbacca is gone in the next moment, R2 quickly following him with rapid, happy beeps up a ramp that looks like it was attached to the stairs after they were built for a smaller, particularly rounder droid.

Despite the man’s gruff greeting, he’s turning back to look at Luke and holding out his arms toward him. “I thought for sure you were dead chico, it’s good to see you.” 

Rey barely smothers a laugh at Luke muttering about the ‘difference of a few years’ as they embrace and then pull apart, but it’s enough to draw the mans gaze to her. 

“And who’s this?”

“Ah, Kes,” Luke beckons Rey forward with an easy smile. “ I’d like you to meet Rey. My….” He hesitates here for a moment, “My protege. Rey, you remember that pilot I told you about, this is her husband, Sergeant Kes Dameron. I believe you’re familiar with their son, Poe.”

“OH!” Kes’s entire face lights up as he swoops down the stairs and pulls Rey into a hug much to her surprise. “You must be Poe’s Rey? You’re just like mijo said!”

Rey’s a little stunned, because short of a few hugs from Finn, she’s never been held like this before. Has never been called anybody’s Rey, usually Just Rey, but she likes the way it sounds… even if that somebody happens to be Poe. She smiles at the warm feeling of it inside her chest. “It’s nice to meet you.” She laughs breathlessly over the mans shoulder.

“Force Dameron, let the girl breathe.” Luke muses when Kes’s hug starts threatening to cut off her air. “We’re not here for long regardless. If it’s alright with you I’d like to show Rey the Force Tree so we can meditate under it and-”

“Meditate.” Kes rolls his eyes as he draws back and ends up putting an arm around Rey’s shoulders as he turns to lead the young woman up the stairs and into the house where she can already hear Chewie rattling around. “There will always be time to meditate with the Force Chico. For now, we get some meat on this girls bones, and on yours you niño idiota.”

Luke sputters at Kes’s back, but the older man just laughs and herds Rey into the kitchen knowing his old friend will eventually follow.

-

“Force Querida, you’re as skinny as Luke was as a boy!” Kes exclaims, ladling another scoop of meat and beans onto Reys plate, before putting the funny tasting green stuff on the top and passing her two more of the round flour things. “Comer hasta! Eat! You too Luke!”

Rey, who was full half a late ago, takes the plate with a toothy grin and scoops the meat onto the tortilla as Chewie passes her the weird red sauce that makes her mouth tingle. 

“Force, Dameron, I feel like I’m going to explode.” Luke groans, burping as quietly as he can manage, the hot sauce more than his tongue had been prepared for. 

Kes, to his credit, rolls his eyes and reaches behind him into the icebox. Takes out a bottle that makes Lukes eyes go wide and Chewie warble in delight. “Nonsense Luke, now shut up and eat.”

There’s an outdoor fire at some point after dinner. Rey can only marvel at it and laugh; having stolen Lukes glass when her teacher only glared at it in horror when Poe’s fathers back was turned. And Holy Force, she thinks, she’s met a father… a real life father who cared for their son… for more than a few moments she thinks she got to know what Han would have been like if his son hadn’t of given in. Wonders if her own parents would have been like this; if they would have hugged like Kes Dameron. 

Rey was prepared for a lot of things when they dropped out of hyperspace. Rickety run down temples, old Jedis whispering in her ears… However nothing could have prepared her for Kes Dameron and how much Poe is exactly like his father. Warm. Solid. 

Entirely unrepentant in their affection.

“Feel free to call me Dad, or Papa, it’s more of a Yavinese thing, but Kes works too if you’re more comfortable with that.” Kes had laughed when he refilled Lukes suddenly empty glass of the liquid that made Rey’s entire body warm and fuzzy. If the man had then filled another glass up for her and covered it with some koyo juice, neither of them were going to tell Luke. 

The fire outside only gets better when the sun goes down, R2 lighting it with a happy beep and his small welding torch, Lukes face redder, in the way even their awkward conversations hadn’t left him, from whatever Kes had put into his cup and Rey marvels at the loose limbed man her new found teacher has become. 

“It’s an old Dameron family secret,” Kes chuckles showing her the nondescript clear bottle he swipes from Chewie. Rey already likes the weird fiery taste of it that turns sweet in her fruit juice. “A shot of this will make any and all Skywalker’s malleable to their more… amusing instincts.”

Of that, Rey has little doubt anymore, too busy laughing herself sick on the rickety chair Kes had set out for her, the sturdier of the set going to Chewie who is roasting some sort of meat over the open fire between them. Luke is across from her, the fire sparking in his hazy blue eyes as his hands wave about trying to defend himself from whatever it is Kes Dameron is joking with him about now. 

“You can say Jedi and alcohol are a strange mix all you want Chico,” Kes muses, adding another shot of the clear bottle to Luke’s glass while said Jedi is too busy looking to Rey for back-up. Rey is on her fourth glass of fruit juice and clear liquor and is absolutely no help at all. All she wants is for Kes to finish his story, for her to finish her drink, and then go curl up by whatever the warm thing is by the edge of the orchard. 

The thing that feels like Finn, that feels like Poe…. That feels like family.

“It does not take away from the fact that Solo got you so good with that Endorain Brandy that you walked headfirst into your X-wing!” 

Rey almost falls out of her chair at that, Chewie adding in more anecdotes next to her, and then the Wookie is starting in on a story about Reys tendancy to just punch the dramatic out of Luke when he gets to be too much in the morning, but Rey’s too tired to comment; busy revealing in the heat of the fire and in the way she’s eaten way too much food to be comfortable. She basks in the light and the love pouring off the two men and lets it envelope her; both of their affections towards her are far more than Rey ever thought she’d ever feel from any being. 

None of them notice R2-D2 on the deck, little red recording light blinking silently away next to his ocular sensor.

—

BB-8 bloops happily as the transmission finally finishes. The tall gold one may have it’s own secret network of spies, but BB-8 is far from lax in it’s own means of communication with R2-D2. The droid rolls back and forth in it’s spot for a moment as the data complies itself and then in the next moment it’s taking off down the corridor towards it’s humans’ quarters.

Poe Dameron looks up from the holopad in his hands to his droid and smiles brightly. “There you are buddy- wait, what?” He frowns as BB-8 whirls away with an explanation. “From Artoo? Isn’t he… dear Force…. Let me see it before I give it to her yeah?”

If droids ever learn to roll whatever thing they have for eyes, Poe figures BB-8 would be first in line for the upgrade. As it is, his wonderful little ball of sass rolls back and puts the holo-video up between them.

Brown eyes soften when the surprise fades and Poe grabs a random data stick from the pile on his table. “Yeah buddy, I think you were right.”

Poe may be grinning a bit too widely as he slips on his boots and with BB-8 at his heels, makes his way to the Generals quarters. They’re no bigger than anyone else, but they come with a ready room where Leia likes to put her feet up on the control panel and balance her favourite caf cup on the edge of the desk because it makes her technicians fret.

Much like she’s doing now.

“I hope this is the reports you owe you from the surveillance run last week.” Leia snorts holding up the data stick Poe had just passed her. 

He can’t quiet stop the grin on his face and Poe shrugs. “Something even better General.” With that he throws the woman a cocky, sloppy salute and heads to the door. It’s only when he’s there that Poe pauses and turns around. 

He’s just in time to see the holoprojecter kick in and he watches with a sore heart at the way Leia’s face loses all traces of age and weary. 

Every line of worry blurs into the tight crows feet of amusement when Luke’s drunk laughter rings clear through the room. Poe can’t help taking in the faint shake of laughter in his General’s shoulders when the recording of her brother starts after his father and this time it’s Rey’s laughter, bright and infectious in a way he’s never heard it, echoing through the speakers.

Leia looks every ounce the older twin she is when handed the best available blackmail material of their sibling and Poe can barely hold back his own grin as he exits the room. Let’s Leia watch the rest of the video by herself.

Thinks, silently to himself, that Poe may have just figured out the true untapped potential of Luke Skywalker. 

Not in his Jedi prowess, or in his power to manipulate the Force…

But in his uncanny ability in making Leia Organa smile.

**Author's Note:**

> un-beta'd because I was way to late to the SW fandom for all of my friends to read my pics XD


End file.
